Originally developed
by Brodie Lockard, a physically disabled programmer on the Macintosh, the game
was ported to almost every other platform conceivable including the 8-bit Apple
II, Amiga and Atari ST.

Shanghai was the first western computer game to showcase
Mah Jongg, the ancient oriental puzzle board game. Mah Jongg is a simple but
addictive concept; simply match the same patterned tiles (or special tiles
that compliment each other, such as Winter and Summer) on the board, once you've
done so, you remove them, the aim being to remove all tiles. Each new game
the tiles are randomly placed offering virtually unlimited game play by ensuring
no two games are ever the same. The trick to matching the pieces is that you
can only use tiles that aren't completely surrounded by other tiles or underneath
other tiles.

It could be said the IIGS version was something of a showcase for
an emerging new concept in gaming, a simple stress-free puzzle game played
entirely by the mouse with some nice colour graphics. A+ magazine christened
fans of such games 'Mouse Potatoes'.